Citizens Advice response to Ofgem’s Call for Evidence: Review of the regulatory arrangements for the Data Communications Company
The DCC will have developed the majority of its core services by 2025. This activity should be treated as ‘business as usual’, and should deliver a high standard of service and cost efficiency. The regulatory approach should further incentivise stakeholder engagement, as well as minimising whole system costs passed on to end consumers.
One area we are keen to see DCC or others focus on is ensuring that smart metering coverage is as close to 100% as possible and provides the reliability required for prepay services at efficient cost.
Alongside continuing to regulate the DCC as a contract coordinator seeking to provide a resilient network economically and efficiently, it seems prudent that regulation proactively enables sustainable development of system functions. To enable the DCC to be able to respond efficiently to the developing needs of its users and those of end consumers, there is a need for a practical, flexible and highly accountable process for system and service development.